Wednesday, April 06, 2016

Philippine news

he Filipino fishermen involved tell it differently and describe how they were forced from their traditional fishing areas by Chinese warships on March 5 th and 6 th . One fishing boat shows damage from being rammed by a larger (Chinese coast guard) ship. China complains that they felt threatened by fisherman waving knives and firebombs at nearby Chinese coast guard ships and demand that the Philippines apologize. This is not an isolated incident

Oh my: Fishermen carried knives. Who wudda thot? But that part about "Firebombs" sounds like they had dangerous weapons, but the dirty little secret is that a lot of fishermen use hand grenades to fish (see opening scene in Crockadile Dundee II).

They also note that the annual Fil/Am military exercizes are going on.

I thought they had started when I heard a helicopter, but later I identified it as a civilian one, and the cook told me it was the local governor campaigning and he used it to avoid traffic (not just because it took time, but because attacks on cars is a favorite way to kill politicians).

This year, SP says several countries are participating.

But so far, no helicopters or planes here. Usually the Phil Special forces teach outsiders jungle warfare/survival at the local military base, so we hear planes but rarely see any outside troops. However, traditionally outside troops run medical clinics in poorer and more isolated areas while they are here.

the rest of their news is about the usual clashes, mostly in the south. And farmer riots in the south because of drought devestating their crops.

Why riot for drought? uh, irrigation is lousy? I'm not sure. We spent a fortune to irrigate the fields because of lack of rain for our second season rice crop, which we are now harvesting.

there was a big brownout in Manila over the weekend that shut down the major airport there for several hours. The politicians are pointing fingers, but as one comment notes: It means no one is bothering to check the backup generators.

and this week, we celebrate the Day of Valour, commemorating our WWII veterans. Most of those who died in the Bataan death march were local soldiers.

and the big story about the Panama papers here notes that (guess what) a lot of Chinese VIPs are on the list.

BEIJING—At least eight current or former members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling party’s most powerful body, have been linked to offshore companies, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)....

ICIJ noted that between $1 trillion and $4 trillion in untraceable assets had left China since 2000....

(here is the backstory)

Xi has led a high-profile crackdown on corruption since taking over as the leader of the ruling Communist Party in 2012 and as president in 2013.

the Inquirer story also notes:

Offshore companies are not illegal and can be used for legitimate business needs. But they commonly feature in corruption cases, when they are used to secretly move ill-gotten gains abroad....

some in the US are saying: hey, hiding money from tax men is legal. What's the big deal?

What they don't seem to ask is: Where the heck did a politician get all that money from?

we could say the same about some US politicians.
I mean, we know Trump is a shyster (is that word PC? Sorry) and Bernie is poor, but where did Hillary get all her money from?

Here they practice skimming and gifts to the nth degree...
and the connections between the ruling families make it hard for an outsider to break into politics. Hence the importance of Manny Paquiao, who like Erap would win an election for president in a landslide if he runs.

We are again on the watchlist for violence for the election. I didn't see the military out yesterday when I went out shopping but they are here on and off.

we are keeping our fingers crossed, since the guy running against our preseent mayor is from the family that the mayor's father put out a hit against...or maybe two hits against, since another hit against that family came after he died but a week after his daughter took office. The first killed our nephew in the crossfire...